A Celebration of Resilience and Remembrance
Feature Commentary
Beneath the warm embrace of a shared meal and the quiet hum of community, members and supporters of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF)-Konyaa ABO Victoria gathered to mark the eve of January 2026. The atmosphere was one of familiar camaraderie, yet it was underscored by a profound and collective gravity. This was more than a festival’s eve; it was a vigil of memory and resolve.
The wishes exchanged were simple, universal: for peace, for happiness in the coming year. But here, these words carried the weight of a long struggle. As one speaker noted, this day is a confluence of two powerful streams of consciousness: the hope inherent in a new year, and the solemn remembrance of the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) – its founding and its continued sacrifice.
The true heart of the evening beat in the acknowledgments of those sacrifices. An elder’s voice, tempered by time and loss, cut through the gathering: “God bless our sons who sacrificed for us.” It was a prayer, a benediction, and a thread connecting generations. It spoke of a raw, personal cost paid by families across the Oromia region.
This sentiment was echoed, with hardened clarity, by Oromo fighters present. “We were able to come out in the open because of the sacrifices of a few people,” one stated. This simple sentence framed their current visibility not as a given, but as a hard-won space purchased by the lives of others. It acknowledged a debt that could not be repaid, only honored.
And so, the celebration naturally evolved into a covenant. The warm atmosphere became a crucible for renewed determination. The final, prevailing message was a call borne from both gratitude and grief: we must continue our struggle to put an end to the sacrifices that have been made so far. It was a recognition that the ultimate honor to the fallen is not just in remembrance, but in forging a future where such sacrifices are no longer required. The evening thus closed, holding in tension the joy of community, the sorrow of memory, and the unwavering steel of a continued journey.
Honoring the Guardians of the Struggle
Feature Commentary
“Galata Qabsaa’otaa…” – Honor the Warriors. These words resonate as a sacred debt of gratitude within the Oromo community, a recognition of those who risked everything when the price of freedom was ultimate sacrifice.
In the tumultuous years following the fall of the Derg regime, a period of profound uncertainty and danger descended upon Ethiopia. For many Oromo freedom fighters, the dawn of a new era brought not peace, but a brutal twilight. Stripped of legal protection, they became targets—some left to perish from untreated wounds by the roadside, others hunted and thrown into the shadows of prisons. It was a time of severe crisis, a test of collective conscience.
Amidst this pervasive fear in Finfinnee (Addis Ababa), a flicker of humanity refused to be extinguished. A handful of Oromo residents, themselves navigating a treacherous landscape, made a courageous choice. They became protectors, hiding wounded and wanted fighters in plain sight, providing not just shelter but life-saving medicine and care. Their homes became field hospitals; their quiet defiance, a shield against the state’s wrath.
Among these unsung heroes is Obbo Araggaa Qixxataa. Born and raised in Dirree Incinnii, Oromia, he had come to Finfinnee as a businessman, establishing his life for many years in the Birbirsa Goora area. But when history demanded more than commerce, he answered. His residence became a sanctuary, a critical node in a clandestine network of survival. The business acumen that guided his public life was redirected to the covert logistics of preservation—securing medicine, arranging safe passage, sustaining lives that the official order sought to erase. Today, residing in America, his legacy is not measured in capital but in the lives he helped safeguard. Galataa fi Kabaja Oromummaatu isaanif mala! Gratitude and respect for Oromummaa are his rightful due.
This act of remembrance is being formally honored. The organization Oromo Global has undertaken the vital mission of strengthening and recognizing these aging veterans of the struggle. By bestowing acknowledgments like the one upon Obbo Araggaa, they perform a critical act of historical preservation—ensuring that the quiet bravery of the past is not lost to the noise of the present.
The Bottom Line:
The story of Obbo Araggaa Qixxataa is a microcosm of a broader, often unrecorded history. It reminds us that liberation movements are not sustained by soldiers and speeches alone. They are nourished by the shopkeeper who shares his bread, the homeowner who opens her door, and the businessman who uses his resources to heal rather than just to profit. Honoring the warriors also means honoring their guardians.
As organizations like Oromo Global step forward to say “Galata haa argatan”—let them receive thanks—they are piecing together a fuller, more human tapestry of resistance. They affirm that in the economy of gratitude, the currency of courage spent in dark times never depreciates.
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